Page 13 of The Doctor's Wolf: Part Two
Gordon shuddered because he still remembered Paula’s funeral like it had been yesterday, the bleakness indelible and bright.
Mil looked at him with wide eyes when he handed her the sweater.“Are you okay?Are you cold?Grandma has a blanket.A blanky.We snuggle under it sometimes when we read together or watch TV.”
Right.Werewolves are perceptive.I should know.“I’m fine.Do you need anything else?”
Mil shook her head, and Gordon watched her gather an outfit together.He turned when she began changing.Mil showed no signs of being embarrassed or uncomfortable with Gordon being there, pretty much a given for someone who’d probably stripped alongside other members of the pack since their earliest childhood.
“I’m done,” she told him, having managed surprisingly quickly.
Gordon turned.“Cool.Anything else you need?Remember, we’ll go back later today to get everything for that sleepover party we’re going to have at Adler’s place.Just what you need for now.”
“For skipping school?”
Gordon leaned toward her.“It’s okay to skip every once in a while.”
“But don’t you have to have good grades for NAU?”
Gordon couldn’t help it.He chuckled.Mil’s eyes remained large and slightly anxious though.“You’re already the more studious one between us.Okay.What do you need?”
Mil looked around, then grabbed her things: a book clutched alongside her stuffed bunny, one of the Dragon Tamer series Gordon had loaned her before the last full moon.It had been on her nightstand.
“This is fine,” she told him.And then, she reached for his hand, took it in hers.
“Okay.”Gordon led her outside, though she pointed out where her grandma kept the keys.
Gordon locked the apartment behind them, and Adler came out of his place seconds later, looking at his phone, the work bag in which he had his laptop and tablet in hand.
The wolf smiled when he laid eyes on Gordon.Okay, so he does like seeing me minding the pups.At least one pup.Something I have no qualification for at all.
“Ready to go?”Adler asked.
Mil looked up at Gordon.
“We’re ready,” Gordon said.
The day was cloudy, but the sun was poking through the clouds.The weather could go either way, either becoming fully overcast or giving way to bright sunshine later.
Gordon hoped for the former.
“What about school tomorrow?”Mil asked Gordon on their way to the car.
“We’ll figure that out,” Adler told her.
That ended the conversation.Gordon wasn’t sure whether it was because they were all of them exhausted or whether it was because Adler was that much higher ranking than Mil.
Either way, Gordon considered all the figuring out that had to happen.Recovery after a stroke can be pretty long, even for a wolf.This might be weeks.
When Mil got in the back of Adler’s car and fastened the seat belt there, Gordon frowned.Fuck, we need a list of things to figure out, like a car seat.
Adler, probably because he could sense some of what Gordon was worrying about, reached over to him, caressing his cheek.
“Thank you.”
“What for?”
Adler looked over at him, light brown eyes twinkling.“Just for being here.Okay, everyone buckled in?”
“Yes,” Mil and Gordon said together.
